Armenian Republican Party (RPA) Vice Chairman Armen Ashotyan said discussions about Armenia joining a union state are a manipulative narrative that does not exist in reality.

In a Facebook post, he wrote that the authorities are exaggerating the issue in order to portray themselves as defenders of independence.

“They want to position themselves as ‘independence fighters,’ comic-book heroes who spare nothing to protect Armenia’s sovereignty.

It is absurd that such rhetoric comes from people under whose rule Armenia’s sovereignty has reached a historic minimum, while economic dependence on Russia and political dependence on Turkey have reached historic maximums.

The propaganda snowball being built around the private opinion of a person who is not a political actor is a pathetic operation by a regime clinging to straws.

You are not even masters of your own lives and careers, let alone ‘masters’ of the state and statehood,” Ashotyan wrote.

Earlier, Armenian National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan commented on a statement by Vitaly Balasanyan that Armenia should become part of a union state, saying that “people like him will see the backs of their heads, but they will never again see Armenia lose its independence.”